Background: Oskar's heritage is somewhat of a mystery. No one knows
where he got the efreet blood, but his coming was foretold in an obscure
prophecy. To learn more, he has traveled far and wide, visiting places of
learning and temples. Some would not give him the info he wanted, so he
broke into many places and learned what he needed. He suspects his temple
breakins are what have caused his current problems.

[Summed resistances, immunities, and permanent or daily extended spells – Ruslan has permanent darkvision and comprehend languages. He always casts an extended mage armor on himself and Clatterbones every morning (which has a duration of 36 hours). He always has a contingency spell (which lasts for 18 days) cast to activate a globe of invulnerability if Ruslan takes more than 15 points of damage from a magical attack in a single round. Ruslan is immune to poison and all diseases, including supernatural diseases due to the fact that he wears magical items that duplicate the effects of the periapt of health and the periapt of proof against poison. Ruslan also wears a bone ring (MaoF) with 50 charges. It makes him immune to energy and ability drain. Each level of energy drain or point of ability drain costs 1 charge from the ring. It can burn multiple charges in a round.]

Daily castings: Persistent stone bones on Clatterbones, Extended mage armor on Ruslan and Clatterbones. If necessary, contingency connected to a globe of invulnerability to be activated if Ruslan takes more than 15 points of damage from magic in a round.

Clatterbones has been carefully inscribed all over with delicate calligraphy, detailing a long and dry treatise on necromancy. However, Rusland has given him a hat of disguise so that his minion may resemble a normal (though thin) human in the company of those that dislike necromancy. While he is so disguised, Ruslan calls him Igor, and Clatterbones responds to both names. He carries a backpack that contains Ruslan's carpet of flying, an item that Ruslan does not wish to have to fish out of his bag of holding when it is needed.Equipment carried or used by skeletal minion: Backpack (2gp), hat of disguise (1,800gp), necklace of natural weapons +1 (2,600gp), carpet of flying (5 ft. x 5 ft.) (20,000gp)

Equipment for Ruslan

Magic items on Ruslan, worn

Head - Headband of intellect +4 – 16,000gp - This headband is actually in the form of a neat, black satin skullcap with a single faceted onyx on the front.

Eyes - Ruslan will occasionally wear a pair of crystal lenses when working on some experiment, but not when in public.

Neck - Hand of Glory –8,000gp (with ring of protection +3 – 18,000) - This hand is wrapped with gold wire and decorated with gems. It was preserved with myrrh and frankincense, so the fact that it is actually a severed, mummified limb is not readily apparent.

Torso (vest) - Vest of health (as periapt) – 7,500gp – This vest is created from the hide of vrock, and is a fashionable one made of the vrock’s gray feathers.

Body (robe) - Robe of proof against poison – 27,000gp – This robe is made from a shimmering black material, overlaid with an elaborate fringe of jet beads.

Waist (belt) - Belt of adaptation (as necklace) – 9,000gp - The belt is made of smooth silver leather with a quicksilver buckle.

Boots - Boots of the winterlands – 2,500gp - These boots are made of black leather and topped with silky black furr.

Also wearing -

Scholar's outfit (free)Ioun blade – 6,302gp (A&E) - This simple dagger bears a white stone in its hilt, in actuality, an ioun stone
-Clear spindle ioun stone (sustains without food or water) – 4,000gpRingdagger (as ringsword, but dagger) – 22,302gp (A&E) - This dagger bears rings of shimmering metal of at least five different types on its hilt, one of which is a ring of wizardy II.
-Ring of wizardry II – 40,000gp

Money
1,662gp, and a 1,300gp ruby - Ruslan keeps about twenty gold pieces in his belt pouch, and the rest of his wealth is in the bag of holding.

Appearance: Ruslan is a strong-featured man, with a harsh, angular face. His skin is so dark it's nearly black, with a gray undertone. His shoulder-length hair and thick beard and moustache are midnight black with blue tones in them. He favors the traditional black robes of the necromancer, though his is decorated with jet bead fringes. Over his shoulders he wears a black velvet cape, on his feet he bears black furred boots, and upon his head he wears a black skullcap decorated with onyx. He is usually seen with a leather shoulder bag slung over one shoulder, and his servant, Igor, by his side.

Personality: Ruslan was often taunted as a boy because of his appearance, clumsiness, and bookishness. As an adult, he has a rather large inferiority complex, always trying to prove himself to those around him, whether or not they are cruel or kind to him. He is often baffled by kindness, always waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of betrayal or asking for a favor. Though he enjoys the power necromancy gives him over death, he does not desire that state for himself. He knows there are worse things than death, because he practices many of them. He is fanatical about keeping himself alive, investing a great deal of money to prevent him from falling victim to disease, poison, or the energy-draining attacks of undead. He keeps himself clean at all times, and always wears gloves to protect him from “contamination.”

Background: Ruslan’s great-grandmother was an annis hag, one of the worst kind. Raping a passing tradesman to get herself with child in order to fulfill some evil scheme, her own child escaped from her lair at the tender age of five. Many people recognized his heritage, and he wandered from place to place, begging and stealing, always living in poverty because no one would take in one such as he. He eventually met and loved another beggar woman, thus continued the hag’s vile bloodline. Unfortunately he was taken to the gallows soon after and hung as a thief. Ruslan’s grandmother attempted to help herself when she realized she was pregnant, selling herself into service at a temple in order to have food and shelter.

Her own child remained at the temple all of her life, learning the scribe’s trade in attempt to buy herself and her mother out of service. Her mother died before she should do that, and shortly afterward, the young woman found herself pregnant with Ruslan after an ill-advised tryst with a priest. The priest was eager to keep Ruslan’s mother quiet, and so agreed to apprentice her to a bookbinder and pay for her child’s apprentice fee.

It became clear that not only did Ruslan share his mother’s odd traits of dark skin and hair in a land of pale-skinned blondes, but in him they were very much pronounced. Despite his innate clumsiness, he had a knack for hiding, even though he was big and raw-boned. He was keen of ear and eye, and sharp enough to pick up every lesson he learned from the bookbinder and his staff of scribes.

However, his talent gave way to jealousy in the other apprentices, who in the manner of children, taunted him on his appearance, lineage, and clumsiness at the typical boyhood games. Ruslan withdrew from them as much as he could, his timid mother unable to protect him. When the other boys would beat him for being different, he found his dark skin was far better at protecting him than he would have thought, having witnessed the aftermath of other boys’ beatings.

Ruslan grew to hate the other boys for taunting him, his mother for not protecting him, and his master for not stopping them. He wished they would all die. As Ruslan grew into his teens, his mysterious heritage provided some consolation in growing him tall and strong. The boys stopped beating him when he began to grow, but they never stopped their teasing, as Ruslan didn’t know to fend off their verbal abuse.

It was during this time that some featherbrained noble found an old tome in the attic of a recently deceased relative. Thinking it important, but obviously very old and ready to fall apart, he sent it to the bookbinder’s shop to have a new copy made and bound. It fell to Ruslan to do it for his masterwork. It would take a great deal of time, and first he had to decipher the strange text.

Many nights and days were spent in the small library, pouring over that book. Ruslan was fascinated, for what he had in his hands was a tome of the blackest sorts of magic! While he did copy the book, he also studied it, mastering the basics of the arts of necromancy. It was when he finished the book that he made his first bid for freedom from his oppressors.

Using his magic to drain the apprentices’ strength, he kicked and beat them without mercy, killing one inadvertently. He left them for his mother and master to find, seeing that as fitting punishment. Taking the scribe's money as payment for ten years’ worth of abuse, he set out on his own.

Ruslan has spent the last thirty-two years involved in the deep study of necromancy. Often using his undead minions to extract “tribute” from travelers or small villages in order to fund his esoteric experiments, killing those who disobey or try to attack, Ruslan has made the lives of many a living hell. A priest of mercy once cursed him for his callousness when he dug up the local graveyard to get bodies to study. The priest became his next victim.

Though occasionally Ruslan would work with other adventurers in order to gain some obscure spell components or knowledge, he was often baffled by their attitudes, particularly the kindness of some of them. Kindness, in Ruslan’s experience, covered treachery or a desire for favors. In recent years, he has shunned most human contact.

As a necromancer, Ruslas has unleashed untold amounts of unholy energy into the world. Places where he spends a great deal of his time have become void of all life, something Ruslan appreciates. The occasional person that comes to “rid the land of the terrible necromancer” warns him that the gods will punish him for his crimes. Ruslan finds this amusing as he strips the flesh from their bones to make new minions.

~~~~

These 4 undead are kept in Ruslan's portable hole. Granted it's a bit cramped in there, but they are undead. While the ettins are under Ruslan's control, the mohgrs are not, so Ruslan will have Clatterbones open up the portable hole while he prepares to cast control undead on the mohgrs. The ettins were created with animate dead, but the mohgrs were created with create undead.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a mohrg must hit a creature of its size or smaller with its slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Paralyzing Touch (Su): A mohrg lashes out with its tongue in combat. An opponent the tongue touches must succeed on a DC 17 Fortitude save or become paralyzed for 1d4 minutes. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Create Spawn (Su): Creatures killed by a mohrg rise after 1d4 days as zombies under the morhg’s control. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

Money
854gp - Toryn keeps about twenty gold pieces in his belt pouch, and the rest of his gold is in the bag of holding.

Appearance:Toryn always looks emaculate, especially for a dwarf. His Long black hair and beard are neatly braided, and his Ruddy brown skin is almost as shiny as his freshly polished armor. He stands a full 4'1" tall and weighs a solid 178 pounds. His deep green eyes are usually filled with fervor and determination no matter if he is out on the battlefield or saying his daily prayers.

Personality:Toryn is slow to trust and very suspicious of strangers when it comes to such things he is the epitome of the stereotypical dwarf. He is not friendly nor does he have a sense of humor. In Toryn's eyes everything is a serious matter. These traits have helped him to be very successful on the battlefield but much less so in making friends. He is very courageous but also has a very vengeful side to him.

Background:Toryn was born the only child to his parents. His father was a great commander of the army of his homeland. His Mother was a high Priestess of Moradin. So he learned his martial prowess from his father and the ways of worship from his mother.

Not being able to decide in who’s footsteps to follow, Toryn put all of the lessons that he learned from both parents together in his profession. Other than learning from his parents Toryn’s childhood was uneventful. He loved his parents so that he never wanted to leave their side. He never spent much time with anyone else and therefore never fully developed his social skills.

Toryn’s father was downed in battle and as his mother attempted to save him she was killed as well. Toryn could not understand how Moradin could allow this to happen. Why would the deity that they so devoutly worshiped not protected them better. With this he disowned Moradin as his deity and began on the path to follow the Guardian of the Watchtower of the North, who was much more accessible as he resided on the same plane and had not blindly allowed Toryn’s parents to be killed.

With this change in faith, Toryn left his Dwarven community. He knew that a cleric who no longer accepted Moradin would most likely not be accepted in Dwarf lands. So Toryn departed from his long time home and joined a mercenary guild. As a member of this guild Toryn has taken on duties that would have made his mother proud as well as duties that would have caused Moradin to strip his divine abilities from him had he still worshipped the dwarven deity.

Toryn’s personality wins no one over. Those that accept him and travel with him do so because he is a powerful ally. Many of his former associates have ended up leaving or dying because they could not accept his gruffness and lack of holding his tongue. Toryn speaks his mind and many cannot accept that. He means no one any harm but his lack of social interaction at a young age caused for a lack of social skills now.

Angered Gods:Left the Clergy of Moradin to join Clergy of the Protector

Party ties:Could have been on Mercenary missions with any or all of the members of group.

Appearance: Baril is a handsome gypsy man with slightly curly black hair and tanned skin with golden hue. He keeps a well-trimmed goatee and has a golden earring on his right ear. When not in disguise, he dresses in a black hooded cloak with web-shaped silk patterns embroided to it. Under it is a purple silk shirt and a black leather knife vest. His clothing in general has dozens of small pockets suited to hide daggers of all shapes.

Personality: Baril is a selfish man and quite full of himself. He can be often heard bragging about how good he is with his knives. He thinks he is the best ever and is quite jealous of this self-proclaimed status. Anyone claiming any other would be challenged or dealt with by using some other – often quite deadly – methods. He has a good sense of humor and enjoys verbally taunting his opponents. It is a small wonder, how someone as rash and foolhardy as him has survived this long in his trade, despite his skills. He enjoys real challenges and isn’t afraid of stepping on anyone’s toes as long as it’s going to be exciting. Baril needs nor respects any deities. If you are good – and a little bit lucky – you can accomplish anything.

Background: Baril was born in a gypsy caravan, that was always on the move, so he was introduced to the wandering lifestyle at an early age. His parents were traders and circus performers. His father had a shownumber as a knife-tosser and his mother was a skilled acrobat. Many of the gypsies are also smugglers, thieves and even worse, so the boy picked up many skills and bad habits before reaching adulthood.

He had had a fairly happy childhood and was looking forward taking his father’s place as the knife-tosser in the circus. Baril admired his father very much and his talent was unquestonable; his hand-eye coordination had always been amazing, defying all imagination.

His life took a dramatic turn, when he was 16. He had fallen in love with a beautiful gypsy girl named Jana, but the girl was also courted by the son of the clan’s leader. Neither young man would back down and a furious knife-fight ensumed. Baril was the winner, but the killing of the clan leader’s son would not go unpunished.

Baril was captured and beaten badly, before he was taken to the clan elders to receive his verdict. It was the worst imaginable, he would not be killed, because he was a gypsy and a part of the family. At least to that point, but not anymore after his crime. He was exiled – the worst, that could happen to a gypsy – and told never to return or he would be tortured and slain. This was indeed worse than even death.

The young man was shocked and disappointed with no clue, what to do with his life. Not surprisingly he became an adventurer, because the wanderlust was strong in him and the life of an adventurer was perhaps the best way to take his thoughts away from his sad past. He never rebelled against the will of the clan elders. The respect for the ancient gypsy tradition is one of the few decent features left in him.

He traveled far and wide forming temporary friendships and alliances with many adventurers, but he never stayed long time in the same party. He trusted noone and cared only for himself. He gained fame and fortune with his uncanny knife-fighting skills and those became really the only things he deemed important. He took dangerous jobs and did countless seemingly stupid things, because he didn’t even care about his own life much.

His gypsy heritage gave him many connections in the underworld and the latest of his whims has taken him to join the guild of assassins. He did it mainly for the excitement, danger and new challenges; money wasn’t that important to him anymore at that point. He rose quickly in power inside the guild, but his rash style has caused trouble to the guild and many of it’s members are also jealous of his skills or are afraid of him.

Party tie-ins: Baril could’ve easily joined Oskar in some of his temple raids. He respects no gods and loves the danger. He could’ve also worked for the necromancer Ruslan Bonescriber in those probably sparse moments, when he has had the need or desire to hire living underlings.

Appearance:
Numerous scars on Lou’s face and exposed skin make him seem gruffer then his boyish looks allow. Usually his slightly pointed ears are hidden from view to down play his elven roots.
Heavy beard
unhappy looking

Personality:
“Life is unfair. Those that live it do not have to be.”
Not known to smile that often it does happen. He’s a business first and pleasure later type person.

Grumpy
Chip on sholder
Looks out for the little guy
dislikes elves

Background:
Lousin Anune was born to a wood elf and a female human. As long as he can remember he lived on the edge of town. After a while he noticed how the town people looked and treated his mother and him differently then the other humans.

His father didn’t spend much time at home. On one of the few times he wasn’t out adventuring the house they lived in was broken into. A man who Lou found out later was called Norimas attacked and killed his father over some magical weapon. Lousin witnessed his fathers death and got a very good look at the Norimas the Elf.

Lousin grew into a life of swords and fights. Anger and revenge took over his life focus. Simple things could set him off and for him to put on a offensive posture. He feel into a group of thieves and assassins and learned of the ‘Rogues Code’ and starting offering his service to anyone who would pay him.

He killed murders, thieves, holy men, and children alike. Of course the kids cost more but they still had a price. Eventually he took trophies. He even got two Holyphants, the messenger of gods. One held the holy symbol of Heironeous but the other had no identifiable god.

His last job was killing a man in cold blood Leo notice his son had witnessed the murder. All of his training told him he should do away with the child like his father but something inside of him couldn’t do it. That was the turning point.

After that Lou focused on justice not revenge. On what he can do to stop others before they create more children like him. He vowed to bring law to the lawless and to atone for his sins. You know crap like that.

Pabsit had been a bored Grippli. He lived a boring life amongst his family and friends in the small village situated in a non-descript marsh in the middle of some-plane-or-other. He hunted Dragonfly's and Giant Slugs & Toads as his father and father's father had and married the girl-next-door, as had been expected of him.
His boring life didn't change for some years. Well, except for buying into a mud-fish farm and becoming bored with that too, and, the fact that the girl-next-door, turned out to be the Devil Grippli of legend. At least, whenever she spoke to him.

So Pabsit became both a bored AND a stressed Grippli.

Thankfully, relief came one day, when a group of brigand-ish Bullywugs attacked the peacefull village. The fighting was bloody and frantic, but eventually, the toad-men were driven off. Excitement at last! And a prisoner captured to boot! (The fact that his Mother and Father had perished never even caused him to pause until days afterwards.) The prisoner, sadly, lasted only a few hours of torture. The Grippli's so eager to join with Pabsit, soon turned away or left as Pabsit all too hungrily went about his grizzly work. More excitement was to be found, apparently. The (Now thoroughly deceased.) Bullywug captive, gave the location of their master, Milwabetice - a young black dragon, and Pabsit made preparations to take on the swamp's scourge.

Alone (Thankfully, none of the others fancied their chances on this mission.), Pabsit stalked through the marsh. He came upon the Bullywug camp first. Still licking their wounds, he surprised and dispatched them easily. He then went on to the dragon's territory. Not expecting a response to his planned attack from the supposedly fearful Grippli's, the dragon was taken completely unawares. In a moment of triumph, the grippli warrior held up the dragon's severed head above his own in both hands. He pilfered it's small hoard (The most prized item being a small spear of some magickal design.) and headed home.

The welcoming was not what he had expected at all. The surviving elders berated his recklessness and lack of wisdom. The dragon had for years kept the trolls of the swamps under control, now there was nothing to stop them from over-running the village. The remaining peoples rallied behind the elders (Including his wife) and lashed out at him with their words. Pabsit accepted their comments, bathed in them almost. He never replied, just picked the dragon's head out of the sack he had stored it in and hauled it into the crowd and turned to go home.

At home, the berating continued, though this time, his wife delivered the words and didn't stop, even when he pleaded with her. So he took his spear up, and slammed the front door in her face. "From this day on, I have no wife! I am dead to you!" he shouted and left, determined to find out more of this new life he had chanced upon.

Present day

A hunter of criminals and saints alike, Pabist's former life has been left far behind. He no longer even remembers where his home village used to be, the only link to his former life, his small devotion to the Grippli Mother Goddess.

Well, "kind of" devotion. He managed to "accidentally" slay her favoured dragonfly one time when he was REALLY hungry..... And hse got mad. At least he thinks so, cos she doesn't answer his prayors anymore.